More than a third of voters fear possible Russian interference in election

More than a third of Hungarian voters expect interference from Russian intelligence agencies in the national election on April 8, according to a recent poll made by the Jobbik-tied Iránytű Intézet (Compass Institute).

According to the poll published by Magyar Nemzet, some 38 percent of all respondents expect such interference while 50 percent think there won’t be.

Based on the poll, Együtt (Together) and Dialogue for Hungary (PM) voters are fearful, with 59 percent of their supporters responding that they expect interference from Russian intelligence agencies.

The majority of Politics Can Be Different (LMP) and Democratic Coalition (DK) sympathizers (58 and 52 percent respectively) consider it a possibility that Russia will interfere in the election. Jobbik (48 percent) and Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) (45 percent) voters are somewhat less worried.

Meanwhile, the majority of Fidesz voters (64 percent) think that Russian interference on April 8 is unlikely.

The pollster also asked respondents which party Russia would support in the event of interference. According to half of the respondents, Russian intelligence agencies would interfere in order to help the Fidesz-Christian Democratic People’s Party (KDNP) ruling alliance. Interestingly, even 44 percent of Fidesz voters think that if Russians interfered, they would do so on the side of Fidesz-KDNP.

The majority of opposition voters think Russians would interfere to help Fidesz-KDNP in the election, including 74 percent of MSZP voters, 73 percent of DK voters, 61 percent of LMP voters, and 52 percent of Jobbik voters.

Surprisingly, six percent of DK and Jobbik voters think that Russians might help their respective party at the ballot box.